Entering its eighth year; the Syrian crisis has resulted in over 3.5 million people displaced by war who have sought refuge in Turkey, while numbers of refugees are constantly increasing with new births and new arrivals approximately 1,000 people per day. Different civil society groups and local governments in Turkey with aid of EU, UNHCR and other international donors are supporting implementation of promising projects designed to address the challenge of integrating these refugees within Turkish society.
The seemingly long term stay of refugees has formulated different perceptions among different stakeholders as follows:
⎫ Perceptions of Host Society
Different researches refer to that Turkish people or host society of the refugees perceive Syrian refugees both as a threat and benefit. However, benefit perception of refugees is much higher than threat perception in Turkey.
Interviews among several members of the Turkish community showed that there was a huge amount of compassion observed from the local population in the first years of the crisis. Neighbours and community members were taking care of several large Syrian families in need as compassionate activities people took part in. A very big obstacle for host community is the language barrier, communication between both the Syrian and Turkish population was so difficult. It continues to be a problem that prevents Syrians from gaining social mobility, it is observed that younger people could accommodate faster and learn Turkish language and hence were more able to communicate.
Turkish people started to perceive some social changes in the community as well. Businesses have begun to orient towards Syrian population through restaurants and clothing stores; especially children and women formed friendships in the communities despite the language barrier; more and more Arabic signs appeared in most of towns.
Turkish population usually express empathy with Syrians, although there were also some negative sentiments, it is easy to detect that there was an overall feeling of toleration.
As Syrians seem guests overstaying their visit, the Turkish population increasingly became more impatient and annoyed with the various rights the “guests” were receiving in terms of education and health care. Syrians were no longer viewed as the victims of a horrible war, but as people who disturbed the peace and harmony of communities, and were taking advantage of the Turkish government (Ibid).
Turkish people became increasingly irritated about certain rights that ‘guests’ obtained in the field of education and health (Nielsen, 2016).
According to studies; three factors affect perception of Syrian refugees:
-demographic/ethnic transformation in the region due to high influx of refugees,
-sectarian factors that increase doubts towards refugees and
-economic burden due to refugees perceived by local people (Nevruz & Çukurçayır, 2015).
These are even exacerbated by the ‘sense of competition’ in certain regions, certain social and economic aids and possibilities provided for the Syrians brought about a range of bottom-up reactions from the society.
Some common positive and negative perceptions of Turkish people about Syrians could be summarized as follows:
♣ Syrians are taking away jobs from Turkish people
♣ Syrians are raising crime rates in Turkey
♣ Moral values and traditions in Turkey are in danger because of the increasing Syrian population
♣ The number of terrorist incidents are rising because of Syrians
♣ Syrians pose a danger for the health of people in Turkey
♣ -yrians contribute to the tolerant atmosphere in our country
♣ We need Syrian workers to work in different sectors in our country
♣ Syrians are enriching our culture
Perception of Turkish people also evolved from ‘hospitality’ to exhaustion. It is diversified according to unilaterally reasons developed by locals such as historical prejudices or common heritage, ethnic and sectarian differences or similarities, language barrier and communication difficulties, differences in lifestyles and environmental impact of refugees.
⎫ Perceptions of Public Administrators, local Governments
The central government has been the main responder to the Syrian population in Turkey. The DGMM is the responsible authority for the registration and status decisions for Syrian refugees registered under the scope of the “temporary protection” regime. The government has concentrated the majority of its assistance and attention to the 26 camps, referred to as Temporary Protection Centers (TPC), managed by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and TPC personnel. The state is also expanding its role in refugee management outside the camps through institutions and new regulations – particularly the heavily reliance on AFAD (created in 2009), creation of the Electronic Aid Distribution System (EYDAS), and the planned Accreditation scheme.
Turkey’s employment agency (ISKUR) and International Labor Organization, International Organization for Migration, UNHCR, World Bank, U.N. Development Programme, and the European Union are cooperating closely to prepare the legal and administrative basis for extending access to labor markets for Syrian refugees, and to develop vocational training programs to improve their employability. The Turkish government is also working to expand access to formal education for Syrian children. Cooperation between Turkey and the EU with respect to funding these policies is quiet but sustained. The Turkish MFA is also actively engaged in the process of finalizing the new Global Compact for Refugees. It has gathered countries hosting large numbers of refugees, advocating for a greater voice in international policymaking.
Ministries
♣ Ministries perceive CSO proposals and ideas and their suggestions only as recommendations while they should be implemented and CSOs should be considered as important participants in decision making meetings, and should be invited to official meetings.
♣ Syrian CSOs are not well supported and facing bureaucratic barriers to receiving money from abroad; there should be greater financial assistance and formal recognition at the government level.
♣ Some CSOs are more favored on others and hence have accreditation.
♣ Ministries see the importance of investment in language training with funded courses which are accessible to all across different segments of society.
♣ Discussions about future of Syrians are not debated in public, nor with political parties and representatives from segments of society, where various social groups and citizens can express their opinions and start to debate among themselves.
♣ Need of Information Campaign – Launch an information campaign to better inform Syrians about their rights, services, available assistance.
♣ Need for Recognition of Certificates – Address certification-registration issues ranging from school and teachers’ diplomas to marriages and births, and seek means to receive international recognition for these certifications.
Municipalities
Municipalities hold a crucial responsibility in terms of creating a bridge between the central government and local stakeholders; and also among local stakeholders themselves.
♣ Researches show lack of shared attitudes by municipalities across Turkey towards Syrians; some municipalities tend to ignore the existence of refugees or even have a hostile attitude, while others give full support.
♣ Increasing local cooperation and communication is required – Multi-sectoral stakeholder meetings are necessary to solve the communication and organization problems in the field, also with Syrian CSOs.
♣ Constant channels of communication with civic actors – In addition to regular meetings with CSOs, should be established. These channels should be open to both refugees and CSOs to answer their needs.
♣ Municipalities do not support much for CSO activities – Many local CSOs suffer from a lack of resources. Access to municipalities’ facilities and other types of direct or indirect support would have a drastic impact.
♣ Municipalizes need to provide multilingual direction signs in hospitals – Languages should be determined according to the local demographic necessities.
♣ They need to provide Life-long learning courses – The life-long learning centers of municipalities should be open to refugees. They would function in various ways. First, these centers should provide Arabic and Kurdish courses for local people and Turkish language courses for refugees. Secondly, these centers should help refugees gain necessary skills to find jobs.
Municipalities are at the forefront of managing the Syrian refugee situation in Turkey. More than 95 % of Syrians in Turkey reside in urban centers. For example. Kilis, on the border with Syria, hosts more Syrian refugees than Turkish residents. In Istanbul, there are at least 560,000 registered Syrian refugees, Zeytinburnu, a district of the city, hosts more than 50,000 of them.
So a national strategy for the long term and greater international burden sharing is highly needed. Municipalities have been particularly innovative in their efforts to accommodate refugees by running free language courses, instituting social support programs, permitting a degree of legal flexibility for Syrians opening businesses.
These municipal and civil society efforts have been made possible in big part by the Turkish national government’s commitment to meeting protection needs of Syrian refugees. However, local authorities and civil society leaders are looking to the national government to develop a long-term integration strategy. Instead, the government has been hesitant and of two views. It continues to treat their presence as temporary.
CHALLENGES
♣ Despite these promising developments, enormous challenges remain. Polls such as the “Syrians Barometer-2017” illustrate that among large segments of the Turkish public, Syrian refugees are resented. They are viewed as a burden, and blamed for deteriorating public services, price increases, and rising unemployment. Although the Turkish government has emphasized cultural and religious affinities with Syrian refugees, the public perceives a surprisingly large cultural and social distance. There are consistent reports of tension between refugees and locals. This makes it difficult for the Turkish government to be forward-leaning on a strategy for integration that acknowledges Syrians are not likely to go home any time soon.
♣ For municipalities, there are additional complications. By law, local governments are mandated to serve citizens and only citizens. This limits their ability to provide services for refugees. It also means local governments do not receive dedicated financial resources to support refugees. Municipal leaders also fear that by providing services to Syrian refugees, they risk attracting more refugees from other localities. That could further strain existing resources, as well as relationships between new arrivals and longtime residents.
♣ Districts in Istanbul that have been recognized for implementing best practices—including Zeytinburnu, Bağcılar, and Sultanbeyli—have seen their refugee populations increase. Burden sharing and coordination are a challenge locally as much as they are globally. These complications result in real gaps in service delivery.
♣ Another persistent challenge is ensuring access to education for all Syrian refugee children. A third of them remain out of school. There are also persistent reports of child labor and early marriage.
♣ Finally, there are significant challenges with respect to livelihood opportunities. In spite of legislation adopted in 2016 to facilitate access to the labor market, thus far barely 20,000 work permits have been issued. Yet, an estimated one-and-a-half million Syrians work informally, and as a result, are vulnerable to exploitation. Nearly one-third of the Turkish economy is estimated to be based on informal employment, which further complicates the situation.
⎫ Perceptions of NGOs
Local Civil Stakeholders – CSOs
Government has focused most of its resources in the camps, hence CSOs and other civil actors are carrying most of the burden in assisting Syrians outside of the camps. CSOs have been relatively successful at dealing with an issue of unprecedented size and duration but there are a number of issues which remain in the way they are operating.
CSOs recognize the importance of the way we talk about and understand Syrian population – i.e. agency, not ‘victims’.
♣ They recognize the importance of the way rights are articulated and understood.
♣ Syrians should be represented within CSOs (at least in the formulation of projects concerning them).
♣ There should be an emphasis on formulating a long term strategy.
♣ Increasing coordination and cooperation among each other – one way can be online forums, or community centers that CSOs ‘ have representation.
♣ Mediation role between host population and refugees through collective activities.
♣ Lobbying with the government and international stakeholders.
♣ Monitoring activities should be increased.
The international community has played an important role in assisting Syrians outside the official Temporary Protection Centers (TPC), mainly in a partnering capacity with the government and local CSOs. The UNHCR is working as a ‘complementary’ protection actor in Turkey, although it does not deal with the registrations of Syrians. IGOs such as IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, WHO and OCHA have all improved coordination with the government in the past five years.
There are a number of further steps which they can take as:
♣ Recognition of Syrian civic bodies in Turkey. International communities should empower local Syrian run initiatives being fostered across Turkey, and provide the Turkish government with financial support to assist them financially where necessary.
♣ CSOs perceive Syrians as stakeholders in their own assistance. Syrians should be represented in policy meetings at international levels.
♣ Recognize that host society also has vulnerabilities which shouldn’t be ignored, and that addressing these vulnerabilities should be as much a focus as the Syrian population.
♣ Empowering existing civil society in Turkey through training programs; partnership rather than direct brain drain.
♣ Inclusion schemes which focus on both Syrians and host society (including marginalized groups within society in Turkey).
Local civil society initiatives are also critical to fostering integration. Organizations such as the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) run numerous community centers for Syrian and other refugees that provide a range of support services. ASAM also runs UNHCR’s (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) pre-screening of asylum seekers in Turkey. Many local NGOs work closely with their international counterparts, U.N. agencies, and increasingly, NGOs established by Syrian refugees themselves. Last month, a group of Turkish NGOs led by Oxfam Turkey and the Research Center on Asylum and Migration organized an International Refugee Congress with the participation of representatives from close to 100 institutions from nearly 30 countries.
⎫ Perceptions of Media
The media has a fundamental role to play in how Syrians are understood and perceived by the general population. Media includes (Newspapers, Television, Online, Radio)
Media needs to work on the following:
♣ Recognize the position of the media in influencing the general perception of Syrians among the population, and therefore the importance of the way they report on the Syrian population.
♣ Media should refrain from inciting resentment or tensions against the Syrian population.
♣ Media should be used as a platform to host inclusive debates about the Syrian presence – from all segments of society.
♣ Media should be translated into different languages. There should be public service adverts to provide information to refugee populations.
The media coverage of Syrian refugees has generally been very low since the day people started arriving in Turkey. There is poor news coverage about refugees except for the sinking refugee ships in the Aegean Sea and the “EU-Turkey Agreement periods”. At this point, media almost never refers to the daily lives of Syrians in Turkey and the problems they encounter. Media should recognize and give a voice to them and make news describing their problems which might lead to a strengthened social cohesion.
Media plays an important role in shaping the prevalent perception and discourses in public about immigrants and refugees. It can be inferred from studies that by means of portrayals that solely emphasize potential threats for host societies media may not only encourage the marginalization of immigrants and refugees but also provide ready justifications for their dehumanization and consequent outcomes (Esses, Medinau & Lawson, 2013).
Researches show that the mainstream media in Turkey have reproduced discriminatory discourses on Syrian refugees (Doğanay & Keneş, 2016). These have been observed to be based on the existence of refugees as a security threat and an economic burden, objectification of refugees by emphasizing how much money was spent for them, sentimentalization of the reaction against refugees and the emphasis on ‘illegal refugees’ that portrayed all refugees as illegal (Ibid; Erdoğan, 2017). For instance, in the news coverage about the collective entry of refugees into Turkey, they were depicted as a threat or danger by means of metaphors such as ‘influx’, ‘flood’ and ‘wave’ (Keneş, 2016).
⎫ Perceptions of Migrants
There are many factors influencing the perceptions of Migrants in Turkey as follows:
♣ The challenging lack of clarity around Syrian refugees’ status.
♣ Language barrier and communications problems which have made it difficult for Syrians to fully grasp the opportunities.
♣ Need for effective communications campaign which is useful to inform the Syrian refugee communities of ongoing developments, opportunities, provide guidance to access services, and help dispel rumors or misinterpretations.
♣ Perceived lack of communication and coordination between the different actors engaged in dealing with Syrian refugees: local and national authorities, civil society and public institutions, and among civil society organisations themselves. Although the government’s new approach to coordinate the response through the Prime Minister’s office is a welcome development and has already generated positive momentum. Coordination efforts should seek to build on the expertise and experience of Syrian and Turkish civil society organisations, practitioners, and think tanks, who know local dynamics and could make valuable contributions to the definition of priorities and the design of effective programmes.
♣ More attention and efforts needed to be focused on the question of Migrants social and economic integration in Turkey. This requires a change in approach from international actors towards longer-term planning and funding opportunities.
♣ Turkey's public policies are increasingly reflecting the acknowledgement that Syrians have become "permanent-temporary" parts of Turkish society. In that respect, providing space for Syrian and Turkish actors to exchange and inform the design and implementation of these programmes is critical for their effectiveness.